Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 22nd Oct 2009 21:53 UTC
I never thought it was possible, but as it turns out, Microsoft has managed to produce some pretty good commercials for its brand new operating system, Windows 7. They are quite product-oriented, and carry the slogan "I'm a PC and Windows 7 was my idea".
Thread beginning with comment 390545
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE: Ads are nice - but don't tell you the story
by lemur2 on Fri 23rd Oct 2009 01:30
in reply to "Ads are nice"
Member since:2007-02-17
I like the Ads. It short and nice. I like the Tag line "Win 7 is my idea". I can't comment on the OS, I haven't tried it yet.
Don't try to upgrade your existing PC from a previous version of Windows, it will prove very expensive (especially of your time) even if it is actually even possible:
http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2009/10/22/our-windows-7-special-of...
Gartner estimates that real migration costs will be between $1,035 & $1,930 per user from Windows XP to Windows 7.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1558769/gartner-pushes-win...
Ouch.
For an update of dubious value, that is a significant outlay if one has a number of users.
RE[2]: Ads are nice - but don't tell you the story
by soonerproud on Fri 23rd Oct 2009 05:13
in reply to "RE: Ads are nice - but don't tell you the story"
Member since:2008-03-05
Don't try to upgrade your existing PC from a previous version of Windows, it will prove very expensive (especially of your time) even if it is actually even possible:
snip
Gartner estimates that real migration costs will be between $1,035 & $1,930 per user from Windows XP to Windows 7.
snip
Ouch.
For an update of dubious value, that is a significant outlay if one has a number of users.
snip
Gartner estimates that real migration costs will be between $1,035 & $1,930 per user from Windows XP to Windows 7.
snip
Ouch.
For an update of dubious value, that is a significant outlay if one has a number of users.
First the poster above was most likely talking about his/her personal PC which cost nowhere near $2000 to migrate to Windows 7. The average cost of a upgrade to Windows 7 for home users will be the cost of a OEM copy of Home Premium since Win 7 uses less resources than Vista and does not require significant upgrades.
Next the second link is the Inquirer and they are hardly a reliable source of information on anything related to technology. The Inquirer is nothing more than a technology gossip rag.
RE[2]: Ads are nice - but don't tell you the story
by tomcat on Fri 23rd Oct 2009 18:59
in reply to "RE: Ads are nice - but don't tell you the story"
Member since:2006-01-06
Don't try to upgrade your existing PC from a previous version of Windows, it will prove very expensive (especially of your time) even if it is actually even possible
Since fewer than 1% of people (eg. geeks, enthusiasts) actually do upgrades from one OS to another -- and instead get their OS preinstalled when they buy a new machine -- this is a non-issue for the vast majority of people.
Gartner estimates that real migration costs will be between $1,035 & $1,930 per user from Windows XP to Windows 7.
First, that estimate is based on a projected cost for businesses, not consumers. Second, businesses can't run XP indefinitely. XP is reaching its end-of-life support timeline and, so, businesses are going to ultimately have to incur some kind of migration cost, regardless of which OS they migrate to. Like everybody else, most businesses get their OSes preinstalled on new machines, and then depreciate those assets over some fixed time period. It's not a question of IF but WHEN they will migrate. Third, future OSes aren't going to make migration costs magically disappear. Fourth, these costs don't factor in the use of virtual machine technology for keeping older applications running.
Edited 2009-10-23 18:59 UTC
RE[2]: Ads are nice - but don't tell you the story
by grat on Sun 25th Oct 2009 23:13
in reply to "RE: Ads are nice - but don't tell you the story"
Member since:2006-02-02
Really? Gartner's broken out the crack pipe again, then, especially in IT environments.
Microsoft provides some nice tools:
1) User State Migration, to backup the profile(s) to a server.
2) Microsoft Deployment Toolkit to customize, image, and deploy sysprep-style images.
3) GPO or SCCM based application deployment.
So, backup the user profiles, wipe and re-image the machine, reinstall the applications automagically, and restore the user profile.
That covers 95% of my user base right there, at about 45 minutes to an hour per machine.
As for home users, I wouldn't recommend upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 anyway. Vista to 7 shouldn't be too bad, but XP is just too wild and unmanaged to make a direct upgrade safe.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:06 UTC
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 7:37 UTC
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Linked by fran on 05/18/13 1:38 UTC
Appfour added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 23:35 UTC, submitted by kragil
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
Linked by MOS6510 on 05/17/13 22:22 UTC
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 22:15 UTC, submitted by Tom
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 21:41 UTC
Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 17:04 UTC
"But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 13:17 UTC
"Android and iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems worldwide, combined for 92.3% of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013 as Windows Phone crept past BlackBerry for 3rd place. According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million units worldwide during 1Q13, up 59.1% from the 125.4 million units shipped during 1Q12." Windows Phone doubles from a few to twice few, iOS loser market share as its growth is slower than that of the overall market. BlackBerry continues slide into irrelevance.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 12:06 UTC
"According to the latest research from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies service, global Android smartphone profits reached US$5 billion in total during the first quarter of 2013. Samsung dominated and captured an impressive 95 percent share of all Android smartphone profits." Wow.More News »
Sponsored Links
Member since:
2008-07-18
I like the Ads. It short and nice. I like the Tag line "Win 7 is my idea". I can't comment on the OS, I haven't tried it yet.